Abstract

The average annual catch of threadfin breams along the Malabar coast was
16,754 t during 1998-2005. The fishery was constituted by Nemipterus japonicus
(46.8 %) and N. mesoprion (53.2 %). Peak landings were noticed during August-
September. Studies on N. mesoprion revealed that there is no significant
difference in the length weight relationship between sexes, and hence a common
equation was fitted as Log W = -3.9620+2.8298 Log L. The asymptotic length
(L ) and growth coefficient (K) were estimated as 299 mm and 0.79 y-1
respectively. N. mesoprion grows to 164, 238, 271 and 287 mm at the end of
first, second, third and fourth years. The total mortality, fishing mortality and
natural mortality were 4.93 y-1, 3.41 y-1 and 1.52 y-1 respectively. The length at
first capture was 105.4 mm. The resource is over exploited, and hence there is a
need for reducing the fishing pressure to sustain the fishery.